Center for Competitive Politics

The Center for Competitive Politics (CCP) is a conservative group that promotes the deregulation of U.S. elections, being against the McCain-Feingold act, the Disclose Act, the Fairness Doctrine, and being in favor of the Supreme Court decision Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission which allows unlimited corporate money in elections. It is a 501(c)(3) non-profit which states on its website that its mission is "to educate the public on the actual effects of money in politics, and the results of a more free and competitive electoral process." The Center was founded in 2005 by Bradley A. Smith, former Chairman of the Federal Election Commission, and Stephen Hoersting, formerly Smith's Legal Counsel at the Election Commission.

(Smith was a Republican appointed to the FEC by President Clinton in 2000 as part of the statutory requirement no more than three of the FEC's six commissioners come from any one political party. His nomination was promoted by Republican Senators, but was opposed by Vice President Al Gore and others because Smith opposed campaign finance regulations and thus they considered him "unfit" to regulate those campaign finance practices.  He was confirmed as part of a package deal to secure the confirmation of other nominees.  In 2004, Smith was elected Chairman of the FEC. (Unlike most federal agencies, the FEC Chairman is not designated by the President. Rather, by law each year the FEC Commissioners elect one of the six Commissioners to serve as Chairman for a one year term. By custom, the Chairmanship of the Agency rotates between Republicans and Democrats; by law, the Chairman and Vice-Chairman must be from different parties.))

Overview
In August 2008, Jeanne Cummings of Politico wrote, 'Encouraged by the U.S. Supreme Court, conservatives are launching a wholesale legal assault on campaign finance laws. And among the leaders is a man once charged with enforcing those laws: former Federal Election Commission Chairman Bradley Smith. His goals are big. He doesn't want to just scale back the laws; he wants to pretty much wipe them out.'

Bradley Smith 'opened the Center for Competitive Politics to build a case against the regulatory system that limits individual donations to candidates, reins in the role of outside groups, and bans union and corporate contributions to political parties. With financial support that came largely from individuals he declines to name, Smith opened the Center for Competitive Politics a year later to begin challenging the current campaign finance system in both federal court and the court of public opinion. "What the Center for Competitive Politics can do and is trying to do is to bring the right kind of cases before the court," Hasen said, so Chief Justice John Roberts and his new coalition of conservatives can "knock them out of the park."'

Opposing the Disclose Act
The DISCLOSE Act would require corporations to disclose the fact that they are giving money for campaign ads. This is in direct response to the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in the Citizens United case allowing unlimited corporate money for ads. People supporting stricter campaign finance laws say that the public has a right to know exactly who is funding political ads especially after a campaign marked by hundreds of millions of dollars in spending by groups, corporations, and unions that did not have to disclose the true source of the funding.

The Center for Competitive Politics and other groups including Americans for Tax Reform, The American Conservative Union, CatholicVote.org, and Citizens Against Government Waste argue that provisions in the DISCLOSE ACT go beyond disclosure to actually prohibit speech, and have sent a letter to Congress calling the bill "an unequivocal ban on free speech, masquerading as an exercise in accountability."

Funding
On its website, the Center for Competitive Politics (CCP) states that it "relies on individual and foundation support. Less than 1.5% of our funding comes from corporate support." However, the group does not identify its donors.

In its 2006 annual return to the Internal Revenue Service, the CCP states that it had total revenue of $373,571 with expenses of $284,118. It listed its 2005 income as having been $251,005. It reported income of $820,851 in 2007 and $1,425,502 in 2008.

For 2008, Media Matters lists the following funders:
 * Castle Rock Foundation ($25,000), founded with an endowment from the Adolph Coors Foundation
 * Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation ($20,000)

Lee Fang, writing at the blog "Think Progress," has claimed that Center is a "front group" of libertarian activist Howie Rich, which the Center has denied. The Center for Competitive Politics, along with groups such as the Cato Institute and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, worked in favor of the Supreme Court decision Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. The groups filed amicus briefs to the Court.

Research
The CCP releases regular research studies on the role of money in US elections. This research has been criticized by groups such as the Brennan Center for Justice, which generally takes the opposite side from the CCP on questions of campaign finance and corporate speech. The Brennan Center argues that the CCP's research is plagued by methodological flaws and inappropriate conclusions drawn from undisclosed data points. CCP's original research reports, as well as copies of legal briefs, legislative testimony, and commentary published by the organization, are available through the organization's website.

Personnel
On its website the CCP lists its staff, as of May 2010, as being :
 * Sean Parnell, President
 * Bradley A. Smith, Chairman and Co-Founder
 * Stephen M. Hoersting, Vice President and Co-Founder
 * Benjamin Barr, Of Counsel
 * Amanda Robey, Director of External Relations
 * Michael Tokarchick, External Relations Associate
 * William Vogel Associate
 * Matt Neese, Research Associate
 * Laura Renz, Research & Government Relations Director
 * April Owens, Office Manager
 * Martha Correo, Government Relations Assistant
 * Jeff Patch, Communications Manager
 * Josh Zinman, Communications Associate
 * Erik S. Jaffe, P.C., Litigation Consultant

Board of Academic Advisors

 * Lillian R. BeVier, John S. Shannon Distinguished Professor of Law University of Virginia School of Law
 * Joel M. Gora, Professor of Law and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Brooklyn Law School
 * Allison R. Hayward, Assistant Professor at George Mason University School of Law and the host of SkepticsEye.com
 * Drew Johnson, President of the Tennessee Center for Policy Research
 * Jeffrey Milyo, Associate Professor of Economics and the Truman School of Public Affairs, University of Missouri
 * Michael C. Munger, Chairman, Department of Political Science, Duke University
 * David M. Primo, Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of Rochester
 * Larry J. Sabato, Robert Kent Gooch Professor of Political Science, University of Virginia, and Director, UVA Center for Politics

Contact details
124 S. West Street, Suite 201 Alexandria, VA 22314 Tel: (703) 894-6800 Fax: (703) 894-6811 Email: sparnell AT campaignfreedom.org Website: http://www.campaignfreedom.org

Related SourceWatch articles

 * Campaign finance (U.S.)
 * Citizens United
 * DISCLOSE Act
 * Fairness Doctrine
 * Front groups
 * McCain-Feingold

External articles

 * Craig Aaron, "Fairness Doctrine: Secret Republican Agenda Exposed!", The Huffington Post, January 8, 2009.
 * Peter Overby, "In Congress, A Showdown Over Campaign Money", NPR, July 20, 2010.
 * Dan Eggen, "Special-Interest Spending Surges in State Supreme Court Campaigns", Common Dreams/The Washington Post, August 16, 2010.
 * Eric Lichtblau, "Long Battle of Foes of Campaign Finance Rules Shifts Landscape" New York Times, Oct. 15, 2010.